"I was thinking... isn't Nezu like... Young Midoriya's legal guardian or something? He did adopt him, after all." Yagi asked, "Young Midoriya clearly doesn't like the blindfold; he bit me once. Not to mention the restraints. Doesn't that give him the right to deny medical treatment, especially if he knows it's going to set Young Midoriya off? Unless thers's some other laws that I am unaware of."
Hakamata frowned, "That is a good point. Tsukauchi?"
"In most cases, in any other hospital, yes, Nezu would be able to deny Midoriya medical treatment with valid reasons. We placed Midoriya in the hospital specifically for heroes in order to keep him safe from any potential threats while he's recovering, and for secrecy from the press. Recovery Girl did inform Nezu of Midoriya's condition, and he did make an appeal to transfer Midoriya back to UA's infirmary, where it would be easier to Recovery Girl to take care of him. However, in here... the Hero Commission is in charge. While Nezu is knowledgeable enough about medical practises to make informed decisions, he does not have the neccesary qualifications to change Midoriya's treatment without it going through the Hero Commission first."
Tsukauchi paused to let the two injured heroes contemplate his words, before continuing, "Not only that, but in very blunt terms, and I quote the Hero Commission directly, Midoriya is considered an "anomaly"; a quirkless child, heck, any normal person would have died given everything he had gone through, and yet, he's miraculously survived. People don't like what's different from them, they don't like what they don't understand, and the Hero Commission is no different; they want to keep a close eye on him. They don't know about Midoriya's situation, and while I know they want the best for the people, I fear that if they find out about his quirk... they may exploit him like they did to Hawks and make him do something he doesn't want to do."
"Not only that, but we all know Nezu's... complicated situation. Nezu's appeals go through a lot more scrutinization than other heroes, simply because, well, he's an animal; the Hero Commision nitpicks at everything. While Nezu has gotten used to dealing with all the paperwork regarding the running of UA to avoid most major problems... Nezu has never done appeals regarding medical appeals and doesn't really know what the Hero Commission is looking out for. As far as I know... they pretty much dismissed his appeal."
"What about Recovery Girl?" Hakamata asked, just as Shuzenji walked into the hospital room to check on Yagi, "She's a veteran, and she's handled Midoriya before."
"I have seniority, that's it. I don't work here, I can only advise the other doctors on what to do." Shuzenji admitted, "And if they chose to discard my advice, there's nothing I can do about it. Even if I did work here, in a normal setting, I would be severely outvoted. Midoriya has a dislike for blankets, for some reason, and I told them about covering his eyes already, but they're, well... I hate to say it, they are following protocol, but they're not being flexible at all. Basically, in here, our hands are tied until Midoriya wakes up without panicking and can explain his situation... and Midoriya never tells anyone when he has any problems... which is another can of worms we can't deal with until he's better."
"I agree that something has to be done... but still... restraining him is a horrible idea." Hakamata muttered, "Getting tied to a bed has got to be terrible. Are there any other options?"
"Nope. Like I said, restraint is only used as an absolute last resort. They wouldn't suggest it if there were any other options." Shuzenji shook her head.
"Hey, Reiko... You doing okay there?" Shinsou sat down beside the cat. Her paw was still bandaged up, but she was walking around without much trouble.
Reiko looked up from her position on the couch, looking directly as Shinsou.
"Pops said that we can visit Midoriya..." Shinsou said, "He said that Midoriya woke up already, but he's... well... I think you know better than me..."
Reiko's eyes lit up, before Shinsou sighed, "You know you and Ryuto can't come, right? Hospital rules."
The cat's ears drooped, before she rubbed her head against Shinsou's hand.
"Yeah, I know you're worried, but he'll be fine, okay?" Shinsou scratched her behind the ears, as Ryuto hopped onto Shinsou's arm.
"Ne, Hitoshi, are you ready?" Yamada poked his head into the 1-A dorms, donning his hero costume, "We're going to leave. I'm going to pick Uraraka, Todoroki and Tenya up before heading to Nagano; the trains are down. Yaoyorozu said that she has a private car, and that she'll meet us at the hospital."
Reiko's ears twitched when she heard what Yamada had said.
Heading to Nagano and meet at hospital?
Hospital is in Nagano.
She looked up as Shinsou carefully placed Ryuto on the ground, before the lavender haired boy stood up, "He'll be fine, don't worry too much, okay?"
Reiko let out a purr as Shinsou exited the dorms and shut the door behind him, before she hopped off the couch and headed for Midoriya's room.
She wasn't too sure where Nagano was... but they usually hung out in Nezu's office when there was no one in the dorms. Maybe the principal knew.
"Hey." Yaoyorozu greeted, as Shinsou, Uraraka, Todoroki and Iida stepped out of the car.
"I can't bring you guys to the room, traffic was worse than I thought, and I need to go for my shift at the radio station. Just talk to the receptionist, we told them that you'll be coming already. When you want to leave, just inform whichever hero is in the room and one of the teachers will come pick you guys up." Yamada rolled down his window.
"Alright, thank you, Mic-sensei." Todoroki nodded, before Yamada quickly rolled his window back up, and drove off.
"Now, who's ready to see Midoriya?" Yaoyorozu asked, and everyone nodded. They made their way into the hospital, and quickly found the reception desk. The receptionist quickly told them Midoriya's room number, before she leaned forward, whispering, "No one knows that he's here... and I'm sure that you've been told of his... situation. The doctors have restrained him as a last resort, but still, be careful; if he acts out, the heroes will protect you, so don't worry, okay?"
Shinsou mutely nodded, he didn't like the idea that Midoriya needed to be restrained by the nurses after being kidnapped by the League, but he didn't want to say anything, and risk losing the chance to see his friend. The receptionist pointed at the lift. It didn't take them too long until they arrived at the floor that Midoriya was on, and they waited until the lift door opened, before walking out.
They headed in the direction where Midoriya's room was, until they heard some faint yelling.
"Calm down!"
"How on earth did he manage to get out of them?!"
"Get the door!"
Todoroki cocked his head slightly in confusion, "What's going on?"
"No idea." Shinsou shook his head, before a door burst open. A familiar mop of green hair appeared, as Midoriya ran out of the room, attempting to turn on his heel but tripping over his foot and smashing into the wall instead.
"Midoriya?" Shinsou blinked, quickly moving over to where the smaller boy had fallen. There was nothing but pure panic and fear radiating off the boy, and Shinsou gently wrapped his arms around the green haired boy as he limply sagged against him, the sudden burst of energy that the boy previously possessed quickly fading to nothingness.
"You okay there, Midoriya?" Shinsou asked, but didn't get a reply from Midoriya. He could feel Midoriya's entire body shaking like a leaf in a typhoon, his heart pounding in his chest, as the boy grasped weakly at his shirt, breathing heavily.
Midoriya was terrified, to say the least.
He could move alright, but there was something wrapped tightly around his wrists, keeping his hands pressed against something cold, and he did not like that one bit. He had done it when he tried to escape the League; he couldn't use his hands, but he could still do it.
Stop, let me go -
Midoriya quickly pressed his thumbs against what he assumed to be metal, and pain jolted up his arm and through his entire body as he forced his thumbs out of place. Leather straps were much easier to get out from than metal cuffs, and Midoriya hastily yanked his hands out of the restraints.
Can't breathe -
He ripped the oxygen mask off again, hearing but not processing the shouts that were ringing inside the room. He still couldn't see, but he knew there this big figure that was in front of him, maybe around two meters tall, moving closer to him, and on instinct, Midoriya jumped off the bed and slid underneath the person.
Let me out, please -
Midoriya quickly pushed himself up and desperately grasped for the door, before yanking it open. He knew that there was a wall around a meter and a half meters in front of him, and tried to turn, but he tripped over his own foot and crashed into the wall.
Help, I don't want to stay here -
He felt a presence draw closer as he desperately tried to push himself up, and he recognised the familiar presence. He could feel some sort of warmth, and it was nice, comforting. Midoriya found himself unconsciously leaning into it, all the energy from his panic attack long gone.
Nice... warm...
He could hear his heart pounding, and he reached out, weakly gripping at the warm presence, desperately craving the sense of security and comfort that he had been denied for so long.
Safe...
Finally safe...
"Hey, careful!" Takeyama quickly poked his head of the room, before blinking at the sight of Shinsou handling Midoriya without any problems at all.
Takeyama heaved a sigh of relief, "Whew... you guys are okay..."
Sakamata, Ectoplasm and Hakamata peeked out of the room, and Uraraka, Iida, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu hastily moved forward, shielding the smaller boy from the heroes' sight.
"What happened?!" Yaoyorozu demanded, and Todoroki just glared at the heroes.
"He panicked. Can you get him back into the room? The doctors are going to come up and check on him." Sakamata replied, and Shinsou gently shook Midoriya, "Alright, we're going to bring you back into the room, okay?"
Midoriya weakly but vehemently shook his head, before coughing violently, still shaking. Shinsou turned back to look at his friends, "Give him some time, let him calm down first."
Iida frowned, catching sight of Midoriya's hospital bed, where the restraints lay undone. Todoroki promptly stomped into the room and ripped the restraints off, growling, "Who thought it was a good idea to restrain him right after getting out of a kidnapping?!"
"Todoroki, please calm down. Even if you're angry, you can't shout in a hospital." Iida half-heartedly berated.
Shinsou glared at the heroes, "He can't see, and he was blindfolded while with the League. Obviously, he would panic. Anyone would, in that situation."
Uraraka spotted the oxygen mask lying on the ground, and she grit her teeth, hissing, "And he had a muzzle covering his nose and mouth when we found him."
Takeyama raised her hands defensively; damn, these 1-A students were scary when they wanted to be, "None of them were our ideas, we swear. We didn't even know anything about the conditions you found him in. The doctors said that they had to cover his eyes and give him an oxygen mask to help him breathe. He woke up a few times and panicked, attacking each time, so the doctors decided to restrain him. We didn't have a say in anything at all."
"You do know that we weren't supposed to say anything, right?" Sakamata grumbled, but Takeyama merely huffed, glaring at the orca, "Well, if I were them, I would want to know what happened to my friend too."
No more words were exchanged as Midoriya gradually calmed down. He did have a pretty bad coughing fit, spitting out some blood in the process, but Yaoyorozu had taken out some tissues just in time. Midoriya's heart rate and breathing slowed, the tremors gradually dying down, and with permission from the smaller boy, Shinsou gently picked Midoriya up and placed him back on the bed, but not before Uraraka and Todoroki put the restraints as far away from the bed as possible and ripped the blanket off the bed.
"What? He doesn't like blankets." Todoroki curtly spoke up, as Iida took his jacket off and offered it to Midoriya to help him keep warm.
The doctor was already in the room, waiting patiently for Midoriya to calm down. The curtains were already drawn, and the lights in the room were dimmed, before he stated, "I'm going to remove the bandages around his eyes now; he's awake, and we need to check his eyes. You guys can stay in the room, he's clearly more comfortable with you around."
"Tell that to him, not me." Shinsou grumbled, "He can still hear you, and I'm not the one who can't see."
The doctor glared weakly at Shinsou, before carefully unwrapping the bandages from around Midoriya's head. The small boy continued to keep his eyes shut, even as the doctor took the bandages and passed it to the nurse.
"Midoriya, can you open your eyes?" The doctor asked, and after much coaxing from Yaoyorozu and Uraraka, Midoriya carefully pried his eyes open, revealing his bright yet empty emerald orbs. The doctor shone a light into his eyes, causing Midoriya to blink at the light, and the doctor switched off the small light and placed it on the table before scribbling onto a clipboard, "Pupils constricted... that's good, seems like there's no problems with your vision."
Midoriya took the time to observe the room, while still keeping a sharp eye on the doctor, before he glanced at the window. He noticed that the doctor had picked up the flashlight again, before taking a packet out of his pocket. The doctor ripped it open, revealing a long, thin, wooden stick.
"Can you say "ahh"?"
Midoriya reluctantly tried, but nothing more than a whisper escaped from his mouth. He blinked in confusion, before trying again, only to get the same results.
"I'm going to check your throat now. Can you open your mouth?"
He stared at the doctor blankly, before obediently complying, letting the doctor press the stick against his tongue and shine the flashlight down his throat.
Midoriya felt like he wanted to throw up, but the doctor removed the stick just in time.
"Your throat was badly damaged, but we managed to fix up the worst of the damage, so don't worry too much about not being able to talk. Your throat will be sore for a while, but just drink lots of water to keep it hydrated and practice talking, but don't strain your vocal cords." The doctor scribbled some more words down on the clipboard, before passing it to the nurse, "I'll leave the rest of the check-up to Recovery Girl; she're more familiar to you, and she'll be here soon."
It didn't take too long for Shuzenji to pop in and finish the diagnosis. Other than muscle fatigue, malnourishment and exhaustion, there didn't seem to be any more major problems that Shuzenji could find. He had pulled a few muscles and ripped some stitches from his constant panic attacks, and he had dislocated his thumbs to escape the restraints, but those were quickly fixed, and she just told Midoriya to rest and let his body heal. She did order the removal of the restraints and the oxygen mask while Midoriya was in the bathroom; it was clear that those were triggers for Midoriya's panic attacks, and Todoroki looked all too eager to set them ablaze.
The IV drip remained, though Midoriya didn't even struggle as they poked the needle into his hand.
Iida had sandwiches, for some reason, so the students didn't have to leave the room to eat lunch. The doctors didn't care too much, even though there was a rule that no outside food was allowed in the room; they were far too terrified of a panicking-stricken Midoriya rampaging to even bother. Some bland soup was given to Midoriya by the nurses, but Midoriya didn't touch it at all, opting to just curl up under Iida's jacket and listen to his classmates talking.
Shinsou and Uraraka were sitting at the edge of Midoriya's bed, and there were more than enough spare chairs in the room for the four heroes and Iida, Yaoyorozu and Todoroki.
"Hey... Midoriya, are you aware that we're going to be moving into the school dorms next week?" Yaoyorozu asked, as Midoriya looked at them, before tiredly shaking his head.
"Do we know where each person's room is?" Uraraka asked, "I didn't look at the form too closely before I left the house."
Midoriya tensed up slightly, as Shinsou shuffles closer to the greenette, "I only know that my room is on the second floor, and Midoriya is sandwiched right between Koda and my room. Not sure about the girls though."
Midoriya seemed to relax at that, and curled up even tighter.
There was a change in shift for the heroes, and all of them were pleasantly surprised that Midoriya was awake and not freaking out. They just remained quiet and talked amongst themselves as Yaoyorozu started talking about what she was going to bring to the dorms and what she was going to leave at home. She lived in a large house, they had been there for the sleepover, but Yaoyorozu had never shown them her room. But given the size of the guest rooms, there was no doubt that her room had to be pretty big as well.
Midoriya was slowly dozing off with Yaoyorozu's voice in the background, and Shinsou was resisting the urge to ruffle Midoriya's mop of green fluffy hair; he was like an adorable little puppy, tired, but trying his best to remain awake in order to listen in on the conversation.
Yaoyorozu hastily lowered her voice, as Uraraka mentioned that she didn't have many things to move. There was a knock on the door, and a nurse peeked in quietly, "Excuse me... visiting hours are over soon."
Todoroki glanced at his watch, "It's only four in the afternoon."
The nurse sighed, "We get that complain a lot, from relatives and friends that aren't heroes. To be honest, I personally would prefer you to stay, since Midoriya is clearly more comfortable around you all. But we restricted the visiting times for now while we increase security since things area little... tense."
Iida hummed, "Well... rules are rules. I guess we should go - oh... he fell asleep."
Shinsou and Uraraka stood up as slowly as they could, but Midoriya blearily opened his eyes, looking up towards his classmates in confusion. Those dim, emerald orbs in his tired, half-closed eyes were practically begging them to stay. Yaoyorozu couldn't really read Midoriya, but the others could, and their hearts were practically melting. Even Iida, ever the rules enforcer, was seriously considering ignoring the visiting hours to keep Midoriya company.
"Sorry, Midoriya. We have to leave. We'll try to come again tomorrow, okay?" Shinsou squatted down to get to eye level with Midoriya, and the green haired boy gave a small weak nod.
Midoriya tried to grab the jacket and hand it back to Iida, but the blue haired boy gently stopped him, "Midoriya, it's fine. Keep it. It's not too cold outside anyways, and I have plenty of jackets at home. You can return it when you're finally move into the dorms."
Midoriya watched wearily as his classmates were ushered out of the room, and despite his mind screaming that he was useless, becoming soft and reliant on others, the green haired boy found himself craving the warmth and security that his friends offered.
Friends?
He wondered when that word had popped up.
They're not your friends. They're like everyone else, pretending to be nice before they throw you away once they're done playing with your emotions.
Shut up. They came for me when they didn't have to. That counts for something, right?
Midoriya curled in on himself even tighter, closing his eyes; he was too tired to deal with the bullshit that his brain was currently spewing. He'd deal with it later, when he wasn't so tired.